I am very concerned by the claims in today’s Audit Scotland report that many children’s care plans ‘lack clear action and long-term goals’, and that a ‘better understanding’ of costs is necessary to ensure services provide value for money.
The report, entitled ‘Getting it Right for Children in Residential care’, reveals that children’s services across the [...]

Last week I met with June Vallance, Project Director at the Shotts Healthy Living Project, ‘Getting Better Together’ and Wilma Phillips, Acting Head of Profession for Podiatry in NHS Lanarkshire. The meeting was to launch the search for volunteers for a community toenail cutting service. This may seem like a trivial matter, but a large [...]

During a recent trip to the United States I met with senior executives from pharmaceutical company Merck (known as MSD in the UK) to discuss the future of the Newhouse research facility.
The meeting took place at Merck’s research headquarters in Pennsylvania and was attended by the company’s Executive Director of Government Affairs, Bob Hunter, and [...]

On Tuesday I attended the latest meeting of the Airdrie Area Voluntary Sector Locality Network.
The meeting, which was well attended by representatives from a range of local and national voluntary organisations and services, provided updates on current and future changes to volunteering, and discussed the challenges that the sector will face in the future.  It [...]

Today sees the publication of the new Scottish Diabetes Action Plan. The plan, which was launched in Glasgow, sets out a course of action over the next three years which will support prevention and detection of diabetes and help improve NHS care throughout Scotland.
I know from personal experience that diabetes can be a devastating condition, [...]

Last night I attended Edinburgh Tattoo to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the start of the Cadet movement. This significant anniversary was commemorated at the Tattoo when the Cadets in Scotland paraded the Colours/Banners of the Sea Cadet Corps, the Marine Cadets, the Army Cadet Force, the Air Training Corps and the Combined Cadet Force.
The cadet [...]

I was grateful to be invited to @Home’s Got Talent, a celebration of North Lanarkshire’s youthful talent staged at the Airdrie @Home Centre.
The event, which was both exciting and enjoyable, gave the young participants the opportunity to showcase the array of skills that they have acquired over the summer months. The standard of the performances was very high, [...]

I attended meetings with senior management and staff at Newhouse research facility in North Lanarkshire, which is facing imminent closure by parent company MSD (formerly Organon).
The meetings, also attended by local Labour MP Pamela Nash, were very constructive, and I remain hopeful that a solution can be found which protects the jobs of the 250 [...]

I visited HMP Shotts as part of Monklands Police’s NAe Bother campaign.
Now in its third year, the NAe Bother campaign has proved a robust and effective means of reducing crime and cultivating better relations between the police and local communities. This years campaign is focused upon young people, and it was in this capacity that representives of the [...]

I attended Glasgow Metropolitan College for the official launch of my colleague Cathie Craigie MSP’s British Sign Language (BSL) (Scotland) Bill.
The Bill, which is know undergoing a 3 month public consultation,  aims to secure BSL equal status with English and Gaelic as one of Scotland’s official langauges, and see it added to the national curriculum as a linguistic [...]